Omar's Blog

The Economy Sucks! What Will You Do?

2008-09-30T19:01:32Z

Unless you've been hiding in a cave somewhere you know that the economy is in disarray. Gas, oil and food prices have soared through the roof and some of the biggest financial institutions on Wall St. have recently failed. Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac had to be bailed out by the Government. Heck, even some big banks have failed and then there is the real estate bubble burst to contend with.

Despite these current economic trends and so called recession that we are experiencing, money is still being made in America. In fact, even more fortunes are being made as a result of the current economic chaos. How is this so? Because these chaotic times are producing new opportunities for those who have the specialized knowledge, vision and savvy to recognize and profit from them, especially in the case of real estate.

The bottom line is this. Regardless of the state of the economy people will always need a place to live and therefore money will always exchange hands. This is the true reality and the key for you as a real estate entrepreneur is to position yourself to be on the receiving end when that money does exchange hands. Make sense? I hope so for your sake.

While a bulk of real estate investors will be falling by the wayside and finding it extremely difficult to succeed in this "new economy" because banks and lenders are tightening credit, there are those investors who will thrive and prosper because they have adopted and adapted to a non-conventional way of doing business.

For example, instead of seeking a loan from the bank to purchase real estate, the savvy real estate entrepreneur will utilize private lending as a viable alternative to raise funds for deals. In addition, unlike the majority of their fellow real estate investors who will be looking to scale down their marketing budgets during this economic downturn simply because they view marketing as an expense rather than a necessary investment to generate new business, the wise investors will market even more increasing their marketing budgets to attract, find and profit from the newly created opportunities that are abound.

So my questions to you my fellow real estate entrepreneurs are this. What will you do? Will you sit on the fence and let the opportunities pass you by simply because the majority of the pundits in the media are saying the "economy sucks"? Or will you intelligently redefine your business, attitude, and strategies to position yourself to be prosperous and successful during these times?

To learn how to start your own private lending program visit http://www.privatelendingfunding.com
To super charge your marketing you need renegade stealth marketing for more info visit http://www.renegadestealthmarketing.com

What are Lease Options and Straight Options?

2008-09-17T12:10:20Z

An option is an agreement between a buyer and a seller that says the seller (optionor) WILL sell and the buyer(optionee) MAY buy a particular piece of real estate. An option gives the optionee marketable resale rights to the property and is typically used as a marketing agreement. An option is technically binding upon the optionor but not upon the optionee, though in practice the optionor will usually be released from the option in the event that he or she finds an end buyer before the optionee does.

Most states require a minimum option fee to be paid by the optionee to the optionor in order for the option to be enforceable. The basic idea in using an option is to secure the property for yourself at a good price so you can secure a buyer willing to pay you a higher price.

A lease option is simply a lease agreement executed in conjunction with an option agreement, granting the optionee the right to lease and perhaps to sublease the property as well as the option to purchase and resell the property at any time during the lease term. The basic idea with a lease option is to control the property so that you can sublease it to a tenant buyer for positive cash flow and eventually sell it for a profit.

Profit Centers in Lease Option Transactions

Your profit as the investor in a lease option transaction comes in three ways:

1) Up front profit, from the spread between non-refundable option fee paid to owner and that received from tenant buyer.

2) Monthly profit, from the spread between rent collected from tenant-buyer and rent paid to owner.

3) Back-end profit, from the spread between purchase price from seller and sales price to tenant buyer.

In a straight option scenario, the profit simply comes from the difference between your purchase price and your sales price, couldn't be simpler.

Advantages to the Investor, Seller, and Buyer of Lease Options

What does the seller get out of doing business with you?

If the seller doesn't have any needs filled, why should he or she do business with you? Understanding and being able to explain these benefits is key to being able to negotiate with sellers. The primary benefits to the seller are as follows:

-Debt relief - the monthly payments will be taken over.

-Freedom from property management concerns - the tenant buyer will deal with minor repairs and maintenance, and you will deal with the tenant buyer.

-The owner retains ownership until the property sells, and the tax benefits, such as depreciation, that go with it.

-The owner makes a profit when the property sells (assuming there is enough equity).

-The owner's credit is improved by payments being made on time and the loan eventually being paid off.

-The rental income from your lease will help seller qualify for new financing.

What does the buyer get out of doing business with you?

Similarly, you need to be able to show your buyers the clear advantages of doing business on your terms. Those advantages are:

-The buyer gets to live in the house right away, without qualifying for financing.

-The buyer gets to make installments towards the down payment.

-The buyer gets time and help to restore his or her credit rating.

-The buyer gets to try out the house and neighborhood before being committed to buying.

What are the advantages to you, the investor, of doing business this way?

And of course there are clear advantages to you the investor of doing business t his way, which include:

-Three profit centers: up front profit, monthly cash flow, and back-end profit.

-Your profits are not taxable until the property is sold.

-You face minimal expenses, minimal risk, no credit exposure.

-There is an abundant market for buyers and sellers.

-You are not responsible for routine maintenance.

-You do not incur holding or closing costs.

-You can choose to deal only with nice houses in nice areas with quality sellers and buyers.

Advantages to the Investor and Seller of using Straight Options

What does the seller get out of doing business with you?

In a straight option scenario the seller benefits from working with you as well. The specific benefits to the seller in this scenario are:

-The house is aggressively marketed by a real estate professional.

-The seller incurs no expense and no risk.

-There are no tenants.

-The seller gets cash when the property sells.

-The seller gets the fastest sale possible.

What are the advantages to you of doing business this way?

Straight options are ideal for you the investor as well, for the following reasons:

-You have no expenses and no risk.

-There is no dealing with repairs or contractors.

-The higher-priced the homes the larger the profit potential.

-You get a great way to learn to sell to the retail market without any capital at risk.

-You incur no closing or holding costs.

-You are under no long-term commitment; it's safe to walk away at any time.

Omar Johnson is a successful real estate investor and author of the home study course "Renegade Stealth Marketing For The Savvy Real Estate Entrepreneur" For more info visit

http://www.renegadestealthmarketing.com

How to Create Your Real Estate Investor Website

2008-09-17T11:33:44Z

As a real estate investor and marketer a website should be an integral part of your lead generating campaign. It should be utilize to inform potential prospects about your services by detailing the ways in which you and your company can creatively buy their house. In addition, your website should be utilized to capture and follow up with leads.

So how should your website be constructed? It should be constructed to convey your message to your motivated seller prospects. It should contain "magic words that sell" on every page on your site. Here are some examples of "magic words that sell" Convenience, No Risk, Quick Sale, No hassles, No Banks, and Creative Solutions.

In addition your website should be simple, plain and easy to navigate and shouldn't contain unnecessary flash intros or other impediments that keep your message from getting across.

The following are the key elements that your website should contain:

1) A home page or index page that contains a powerful headline that is designed to draw your prospect in to read the rest of the copy on your website and inspire them to act. An example of a powerful headline would be "I Will Pay You All Cash And Buy Your House Today With No Contingencies And No Hassles"

2) An About Us page that tells the prospect who you are and what you can do for them.

3) A Contact Us page-This page will contain ways in which to contact you. For example, your home phone# or business #, your cell Phone#, your email address, and your fax#. I suggest that you offer all of them.

4) Bodies of text on each web page that conveys the benefits to your prospects. Here are two examples of text that exhibit the benefits.

I don't want to list your house, I Want To BUY It!

I will buy your house as is, for a fair price, on the date of your choice!

5)Testimonials of other satisfied customers. This enhances your believability and credibility. A word to the wise don't make these testimonials up because not only is it illegal, it is unethical.

6) A Property Information Form- This form will ask for their name and contact information as well other relevant information like the property's address, their asking price for the house, estimated value of it, their current monthly mortgage payment amount, the mortgage balance, repair costs, and the reason that they are selling their house.

7) A call to action - A call to action tells your prospect what to do if they want to sell their house. An example of a call to action would be a link that says LET US BUY YOUR HOUSE TODAY. The prospect is then instructed to click on this link which leads them straight to a Property Information Form where they would fill out the necessary information that will enable you to determine how to craft your offer and the way of communication to present that offer.

8) You must have a link on every page of your website that leads to your Property information Form so when the motivated seller gets the urge to take action they are just one click away from filling out the form.

In conclusion, one of the quickest and cheapest ways to get your website done is to outsource the project to a freelance website designer.

Omar Johnson is a successful real estate investor and author of the home study course "Renegade Stealth Marketing For The Savvy Real Estate Entrepreneur" For more info visit

http://www.renegadestealthmarketing.com

How to Identify Motivated Sellers

2008-09-17T11:26:59Z

To find motivated sellers you have to look for them in the right places. It's sort of like fishing you want to go where the fish are biting and once you have discovered where they are biting you want to have the right bait on your line so that you can hook them and reel them in.

But first you must understand the mindset and characteristics of a motivated seller and what are the reasons that make them motivated to sell in the first place? Here are a few of those characteristics.

1) They desperately need to sell due to circumstances.

2) They are looking for a quick solution to their problems.

3) They are not afforded the time or don't have the money to sell their house the traditional way.

4) You are possibly their last hope to alleviate their burden.

Let's face it a big chunk of your success as a real estate investor will be based on your ability to distinguish between the motivated seller and the non-motivated seller. The non-motivated seller you want to stay far away from because they will only waste your valuable time, frustrate you and leave you wondering if the real estate business is really for you.

You will never convince a non-motivated seller to turn into a motivated seller unless you are willing to pay retail prices for their house. So it is imperative that you quickly and efficiently screen your sellers to determine if they are motivated or not.

Some of the questions that you should ask in the screening process are the following:

Would you sell your house for what you owe on it?

If the seller answers yes to this question they are truly motivated and you should be able to get a free house by taking over the debt or almost free house with debt plus some cash given to the seller.

Would you let me buy your house by taking over the payments?

If the seller answers yes to this question they are truly motivated and you should be able to offer as a solution a lease option or some type of owner financing "subject to" deal.

I'm a real estate investor and I am in the business of making a profit so I can't pay retail prices for houses. Do you have a problem with that?

If the seller answers no to this question that they don't have a problem, they are truly motivated and after some negotiation you will be able to get their property at a substantial discount.

Are you willing to accept some creative financing terms that will allow me to purchase your house?

If the seller answers yes to this question they are truly motivated and you should be able to craft an offer and close a deal that involves some type of owner financing.

In conclusion, as a real estate investor you will save yourself a lot of frustration by identifying and ascertaining whether or not your seller is truly motivated. Always remember that a motivated seller is someone that needs to sell.

Omar Johnson is a successful real estate investor and author of the home study course "Renegade Stealth Marketing For The Savvy Real Estate Entrepreneur" For more info visit

http://www.renegadestealthmarketing.com

Selling Financing and Buying a Property "Subject To"

2008-09-16T20:33:50Z

If you are new and are just starting out in the quick turn real estate investing game there are two concepts you will inevitably come across and have questions about. These concepts are "selling financing" and "subject to". Here is a quick review of both of these real estate investing strategies.

What is seller financing?

When you buy real estate using seller financing this simply means that the seller carries financing for some part of the purchase. It could be for all of the purchase price or for part of it, and it could be a first or second mortgage. The portion of the purchase that is not financed by the seller could be paid in cash, or it could be paid by taking over payments on the existing financing, which is called acquiring the property "subject to" the existing financing, or subject to for short.

What is "subject to"?

Buying a property "subject to" the existing financing simply means that you take over the payments of an existing loan on the property. This is different than assuming the loan. Assuming a loan means that you would have to go qualify for financing with the seller's lender and guarantee the loan personally taking on recourse debt.

When taking over payments "subject to" the existing financing the loan stays in the seller's name until it is paid off and as far as the lender is concerned the seller is responsible for the payments. Although you will have agreed with the seller to make the loan payments and you should fulfill your responsibility, the type of debt that you will be dealing with is non-recourse debt.

Profit centers

When dealing with owner finance and "subject to" deals there are three ways to profit: on the front end, monthly, and on the back end. Front end profit is the difference between the down payment you promise the seller and the down payment you collect from the buyer. Monthly profit is the difference between the payments you promise the seller and the payments you collect from the buyer. Back end profit is the difference between the purchase price you promise the seller and the purchase price you agree to with your buyer, including any discount you eventually negotiate with the seller.

Advantages of seller financing and "subject to"

There are a number of reasons why seller financing might be desirable for you as the investor as well as for your sellers and buyers:

Advantages to the investor

-No bank qualifying is involved and hence no credit bureau activity, which means that your personal credit is protected.

-You can often negotiate highly favorable down payments, rates, and terms when working with motivated sellers.

-Being able to offer no qualify financing means you often will be dealing with motivated buyers, those who can't buy a house conventionally, as well as motivated sellers. So you get the best of both worlds.

-Closing costs are minimal any time you're not dealing with a conventional lender; until your end buyer cashes you out you don't even need to purchase title insurance.

Advantages to the seller

-Debt relief is the primary advantage of selling on a subject to basis, right up there with avoiding foreclosure.

-The seller's credit will be improved as you continue making payments and eventually pay off their loan.

-In the case of seller financing the seller will receive a steady income stream from the property. This can be desirable to many different people for many different reasons.

Advantages to the buyer

-The main advantage to the buyer is no qualify Financing: getting to move into and perhaps gain ownership of a property without qualifying for a loan.

Omar Johnson is a successful real estate investor and author of the home study course "Renegade Stealth Marketing For The Savvy Real Estate Entrepreneur" For more info visit http://www.renegadestealthmarketing.com

Real Estate Marketing Is The Business

2008-09-15T06:08:58Z

As a real estate investor and entrepreneur you must truly understand that you are in the business of marketing first and foremost. MARKETING drives the business. Your marketing's end result should be that it produces leads and prospects to whom you would inevitably like to present offers to and get them accepted.

The bottom line is your real estate business cannot survive without you generating a steady stream of prospects for it. So therefore, the key to making money in real estate is marketing. Never forget this. You may know 100 different ways to buy houses but it doesn't mean spit if you don't have sellers in front of you to apply what you know. Make sense? Good.

Don't get me wrong your real estate education is super important but you don't have to spend all of your valuable time learning every detail of the technical strategies of creative real estate investing. Your #1 aim should be to put yourself in the position to make profits. The way that you put yourself in the position to make profits is by crafting a message that is designed to attract motivated seller prospects and delivering that message through the right medium. This is known as the message to market match and should be the basis of your marketing attack.

Essentially, what you are trying to accomplish with your marketing is zeroing in and trying to identify the people who have problems and need to sell their real estate as a result of these problems. You want these potential prospects to "raise their hand" so that you can continue to prescreen them, follow up and give them more information about your services and how you can help to solve their problems. As a real estate investor and entrepreneur you will make a ton of cash by being the ultimate problem solver and the ultimate marketer.

What kind of marketing message should you craft? It all depends on which motivated seller niche you intend on targeting. For example, if you were to target the frustrated landlord niche your message would specifically address the problems associated with having tenants like rental vacancy, not getting the rent on time or not receiving any rent at all, paying attorney and court cost to resolve these situations and others like damages done to the property by the tenants etc.

Rather than being general, your message must be meaningful and specific. For example, if you were to send a letter out to the executor in charge of a probate estate you wouldn't talk about problem tenants in that letter because it wouldn't be relevant to their situation. In addition, as a marketer you must remember that when a potential prospect receives your message they're viewing or hearing it and trying to determine "What's in it for them"? So the message that you craft and deliver must completely answer that question or your response rate will be dismal.

In conclusion, if you are not generating sufficient profits in your real estate business or if you want to generate more profits for your real estate business concentrate and improve on your marketing because it is the key to your success as a real estate entrepreneur.

I currently offer a super home study course entitled "Renegade Stealth Marketing For The Savvy Real Estate Entrepreneur" that will assist you in your quest to make a ton of money in your real estate investing business. For more info visit

http://www.renegadestealthmarketing.com

Principles of Internet Marketing for Real Estate Investors

2008-09-12T10:50:59Z

Some things only change very slowly or not at all. The fundamental rules of the real estate game are the same now as they have been for generations. However, there is one key factor that makes the real estate business of the 21^st century different from the real estate business of the 20^th century. This is, not surprisingly, the same factor that is actively revolutionizing so many aspects of the way we live and do business: the Internet. Without an understanding of how to harness this powerful force your business is likely to become obsolete very quickly, if it even gets off the ground. If you seek a greater understanding of how Internet marketing works and how you can use it for your real estate business, this article provides a good place to start.

In order to utilize Internet marketing, you must, of course, have a presence on the Internet. Therefore getting a website in place is the first step, if you don't already have one. A website can be self-designed, custom made, or bought from a specialized provider. Whatever its source a website serves as a virtual office and gives your potential clients a place to visit and learn about you online.

A critical element for any marketing website is a page that captures contact information, including a name and email address, from your visitors. Such a page is called a squeeze page. Once your visitors enter this information it is automatically stored in a database, building up over time into a massive list of interested prospects, or hungry fish.

It does no good to capture contact info from your visitors if you do nothing with it. Your database will be integrated with an email autoresponder, which will automatically send a pre-written series of messages within a specified time frame to each new visitor who signs up. This way each new prospect will be contacted and followed up with on a timely basis. You can use this same email list to send available property alerts and other notifications to your interested buyers.

One tactic to grow an active, interested email list is to publish a newsletter on a subject of interest to your prospects. If your newsletters are interesting and informative this will have the double effect of generating interest from your existing list members (making them more likely to open emails they receive from you) as well as encouraging them to forward your newsletters (which of course contain your website and contact info) to friends and associates, helping to stimulate referral business.

Advertising on the Internet comes in three basic forms. The first is classified advertising. Most classified advertising on the Internet is free. In addition to Internet classified sites, craigslist.org and backpage.com being the most popular, many local papers have online versions of their classifieds as well.

The second form of advertising on the Internet is pay-per-click, or PPC, advertising. Google's Adwords program is one popular PPC advertising service. With PPC advertising, your ads are displayed in various places on the Internet, including alongside search engine results whenever someone searches for terms related to your business. For each visitor who clicks on the ad and view your site, you have to pay the advertiser a fixed price. Thus the amount you pay for advertising is directly proportional to how many visitors your site receives.

The third form of advertising on the Internet is search engine optimization, or SEO. This refers to the art and science of designing your site to receive favorable exposure from search engines, so that whenever someone does a search for key words related to your business, your site will have a higher ranking within the search engine results. The higher your ranking the closer you are to the top of the results, so the more likely you are to receive traffic from search engines. This traffic is free, but SEO is a rather involved process that you can accomplish either by becoming an expert yourself or by hiring one.

http://www.renegadestealthmarketing.com

Rapport: The Real Estate Investor’s Ultimate Marketing Tool

2008-09-12T06:40:29Z

The ultimate purpose of any marketing effort is to persuade your prospects to do business with you. Gaining the trust and commitment of a prospect is a necessary step to gaining a client. In order to become a client your prospect must feel in some way connected to you or your company. This connection is a quality known as rapport.

Rapport is simply the feeling of trust, likeability, and similarity that creates a bond between people. Rapport consists of several different components. Being able to identify these components makes it possible for you to consciously build rapport in your marketing and sales efforts.

Rapport is based on similarity. The more closely you match certain components of a person's demeanor the more likely you are to develop strong rapport. One possible component of this similarity is in how people use their voice. Pitch, intonation, speed, accent, and volume are all different components of speech that can be noticed and matched to invoke similarity and thus build rapport.

Another component of rapport is the language a person uses. This includes such features as emphasis, vocabulary, dialect, and even such distinctions as whether a person is speaking primarily in visual representations ("I see what you mean"), auditory representations ("I hear what you're saying"), or kinesthetic representations ("I feel where you're coming from").

Another possible avenue of rapport building is physiology. Many features of how a person uses his or her body can be matched without the person consciously noticing, but this mirroring of physiology will have a subconscious effect on their impression of you. These features include elements of body language such as facial expression, posture, gestures, proximity, orientation, as well as other features of physiology such as breathing, walking, and other forms of movement.

People also develop rapport based on the contents of communication, such as ideas, interests, and attitudes. If you express ideas, interests, and attitudes similar to those of another person, this can be a bridge for building rapport as well.

In addition to looking at how rapport is built, it is also important to look at the factors that inhibit or damage rapport. In particular, there are two things that will kill rapport or keep it from developing: insincerity and inconsistency. Of the two, insincerity is more immediately dangerous, but over the long run inconsistency will kill a relationship just as surely as insincerity. This is why you must be careful to match people's speech and physiology with subtlety, and match their ideas, interests, and attitudes with honesty. If you come across as being mocking or fake your attempt to build rapport will backfire.

Any form of communication provides opportunities to build rapport, especially those that provide repeated contact. When developing your marketing message and materials, focus on how your marketing will build rapport with your prospects, ideally before you ever meet them.

Voice can be used as a channel for building rapport any time you can talk directly to your prospects, such as over the phone or in person, but it can also be used any time you are able to include recorded voice audio as part of your marketing strategy. There are a number of Internet technologies that make this feasible.

Language can be used as a channel for rapport building whether it is spoken or written. Almost all marketing materials contain some sort of language, so this is one of the most versatile tools at your disposal for building rapport.

Physiology is most important when you are face to face, although components of it can an also be detected and influence rapport building over the phone. This is also relevant whenever your marketing materials contain photographs or recorded video footage of your body.

Practically all marketing conveys ideas, interests, and attitudes as well, so you should constantly be seeking ways to make these components of communication work in your favor to build rapport through your marketing.

http://www.renegadestealthmarketing.com

Renegade Stealth Marketing For Real Estate Investors- Free Mini-Course

2008-09-11T09:08:41Z

RENEGADE STEALTH MARKETING MINI-COURSE INTRO: RENEGADE STEALTH MARKETING DEFINED

If you have made up your mind to pursue a career as a real estate investor, there is one truth that you should be aware of that will perhaps make a bigger difference in your career than any other: not all investors are created equal. In real estate as in most other businesses, 95% of the leads, 95% of the deals, and 95% of the profit go to just 5% of the active investors. Harsh or not, this is the reality that you need to acknowledge if you are going to rise above the struggle to attain mediocrity. You also need to realize that the 5% that are on top are not lucky, they are there for a reason; they do things differently than the 95% who are struggling.

Renegade Stealth Marketing refers to the principles applied by the most successful investors which set them apart from the competition. Let's look at what each of these words means individually to get an idea of what attributes characterize Renegade Stealth Marketing principles:

Renegade - A renegade is a person who lives and operates outside of the realm of conventionality. As a renegade stealth marketer you will go against accepted rules, norms, beliefs, behaviors and so called "conventional wisdom" when that conventional way of doing things is detrimental to your goal of making big fat profits in your real estate business.

Stealth - Stealth is defined as the act of moving, proceeding, or acting in a covert way. Many of the techniques and tactics that you will be using as a renegade stealth marketer to get sellers to say yes to your offers will not be apparent to them. You will covertly influence and persuade them to do exactly what you want them to do.

Marketing - Marketing is defined as the process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service. Your marketing's end result should be that it produces leads and prospects to whom you would inevitably like to present offers to and get them accepted.

The bottom line is, Renegades get results because they do things differently than most people, because they persuade without being obvious, and because they put the appropriate emphasis on marketing their business. If you are ready to learn just what makes a Renegade stand out from the competition, watch your inbox for the next installment of this email mini course, where we will discuss Renegade secrets of marketing!

http://www.renegadestealthmarketing.com

WHAT MAKES A RENEGADE LESSON 1: RENEGADE SECRETS OF MARKETING

If you have ever spent the money to purchase a home study course from one of the big-name real estate gurus, or spent the even bigger money to attend one of their boot camps or seminars (and let's face it, who among us hasn't?), chances are that you learned at least 100 different ways to buy houses. You probably learned a wide variety of lines to say while in front of a motivated seller, depending on your intended outcome for the transaction. But chances are you probably didn't really learn how to FIND motivated sellers by the boatload. The guru might have said to run an ad in the paper, print some business cards, put out some bandit signs, and left it at that. In truth, your marketing plan should include all of these elements, but if this is all you do to generate motivated seller leads then you are not going to have much of a chance to try out the 100 different house buying strategies you know.

Marketing consists of two elements: the medium and the message. Both have to be effective in order for your marketing to produce results. The message is what your marketing has to say to your prospects; the medium is how the message gets in front of them. Renegades understand the importance of both elements and use them to their fullest advantage.

What are the marketing mediums that you currently use in your real estate business? How effective are they at getting your message in front of the eyes of motivated sellers? Are you marketing where the sellers are? Besides classifieds, business cards, and bandit signs, are you utilizing direct mail marketing? Internet marketing? Renegades know that the best marketing message is worthless if it does not get read by your prospects.

What does your marketing message convey to your prospects? Are you saying the same thing that everybody else in the business is saying? Does your message appeal to your prospects? Does it motivate them? Does it excite them? Does it call them to action? Renegades know that getting your message in front of your prospects is vital, but if your message doesn't have the intended effect, namely prompting your prospects to take action and contact you, then your advertising dollars are being wasted.

As a real estate investor dealing with motivated sellers, you are not selling a product or providing a service; you are in the marketing business. Renegades recognize that marketing is the fuel that drives the engine of their business, and they appropriately make their marketing the main focus of their efforts and ingenuity. However, the purpose of marketing is simply to get prospects talking to you. Marketing alone will not close deals for you. For that you need to master the second secret of the Renegade, which is generating rapport with the seller.

http://www.renegadestealthmarketing.com

WHAT MAKES A RENEGADE LESSON 2: RENEGADE SECRETS OF RAPPORT

There is a saying that goes: "All things being equal, people prefer to do business with their friends. All things being unequal, people still prefer to do business with their friends." When you are meeting with a motivated seller it is not how good you look, how smart you sound, or even how much money you offer that will ultimately determine whether or not you get the deal. More often than any other factor, it's how close of a personal connection the seller feels with you, how much they feel that you're like them and they can trust you, that determines whether or not you get the deal.

If you are someone who consistently tries to win the seller over by dressing to impress, by making an effort to sound erudite and witty, or by outbidding other investors, then you need to take heed to this message. Your main goal when you walk into a meeting with a seller should not be to impress, to intimidate, or to persuade. Your main goal should be to have the seller like you. If the seller likes you best then they will choose to sell you their house 99% of the time over another investor.

When speaking with a motivated seller, a Renegade puts the personal connection first and the business details second. There are at least 22 (and probably more) different distinct negotiating tactics that can be used to build rapport and get the seller to say "yes" to your offer without feeling intimidated, manipulated, or persuaded, and Renegades skillfully use them all. A Renegade knows that the important thing is to be liked and trusted, and for the seller to say "yes" for their own reasons, not reasons that you have given them.

Renegades are clear and unambiguous in their communications with sellers; they know that a confused mind always says "no". They also know that directness and honesty is an indispensable component of building rapport. In addition they know that trying to force the seller to say "yes" is no good; a mind under pressure always says "no" as well. Only when the seller has clear freedom of choice and is aware of every possible alternative will they agree confidently and reliably to do business with you.

Once you have attracted the seller and gotten a commitment from them, the next step is to close on the deal.

http://www.renegadestealthmarketing.com

WHAT MAKES A RENEGADE LESSON 3: RENEGADE SECRETS OF FINANCING

A key characteristic of a Renegade is that they do things differently than most people and this applies especially when it comes to funding their real estate deals. The options for financing your deals boil down to three basic categories:

- use your own money

- borrow money from a bank or other institutional lender

- the Renegade alternative

In this lesson we will examine why the first two options are no good for the Renegade as well as the fundamentals of the third option, the Renegade alternative.

Using your own money to fund your real estate deals is obviously a problem if you don't have any. If you thought that this was the only way to get involved in the real estate game then you probably would be doing something else. But what if you do have your own money? There are at least 3 good reasons you shouldn't use it:

- The more of your own money you use, the more risk you incur.

- You can maximize your returns by using other people's money for your real estate business and investing your own cash elsewhere.

- Using only your own money to finance your real estate deals will drastically interfere with how quickly your business grows, because you will be limited in the number of properties you can buy. You can always achieve the same objective in a much shorter time by using the principle of leverage.

So, if you don't use your own money, does that mean that you should use a bank or other financial institution as your source of real estate funds? Absolutely not. The drawbacks to borrowing money in this way are simply not worth it:

- Your personal credit will be affected by borrowing money from a bank.

- In order to even borrow money you have to make it through a rigorous and tedious qualification process, which is even harder than ever now in the days of the post-sub prime crash.

- The lender must qualify the property as well as the borrower, and they make the ultimate decision about whether or not to lend for a particular property, which means that control of the deal is not really in your hands.

- If you buy too many properties with conventional financing you will find yourself cut off faster than a drunk at a bar.

So, what is the Renegade alternative? Borrowing money from private individuals according to favorable terms that you negotiate. This way you set the terms of the deal according to YOUR needs, and you retain ultimate control. The Renegade knows that there is plenty of money available to anybody who can network, build rapport, and find motivated sellers. Knowledge and persuasion will trump money every time.

Renegades know that success in any endeavor comes from an unwavering focus on results. You can have all the right knowledge, all the right pieces in place, but still fall off track if you are unable to maintain your focus on the results you want.

http://www.renegadestealthmarketing.com

WHAT MAKES A RENEGADE LESSON 4: RENEGADE SECRETS OF FOCUS

A true Renegade is defined by their motivation. Being a Renegade doesn't mean being different just to be different; it means doing whatever is necessary to achieve the desired results, whether or not the actions that need to be taken fall within the realm of conventionality. The quality, then, that defines a true Renegade is focus.

Focus is defined as the concentration of the attention. What do Renegades focus on? One thing: results. Where attention and intention merge, there you have achievement. Focus shows itself through action which leads to results. Actions only lead to intended results if they are in accordance with a long term vision and a short term plan. Therefore the Renegade maintains a long term vision and short term plan at all times and makes action habitual.

The accumulation of focused actions is called progress. Progress in any direction requires that the same action be taken consistently and persistently, meaning over and over again, the same way, over a long period of time. This is another way of saying that the only way to walk anywhere is to move your feet and keep moving them.

To be a true Renegade you must be self empowered. This means that you consciously choose what to focus on moment by moment, that you consciously choose your habits, and thus you consciously choose to produce the results that you want. To be self empowered you must be aware that your focus determines your results, and you must use this principle to its greatest advantage.

To find yourself without a focus does not mean you can't be a Renegade; if your focus isn't where you want it to be, you can direct it there by a conscious decision-making process. In order to do this it is necessary to understand where focus comes from.

Focus comes from interest. Interest comes from learning. If you are not learning and growing your interest will wane. When you are learning about something your interest in it will grow stronger.

Focus comes from passion. Passion comes from contribution. If you are only out to serve yourself, what's the point? Only when you find ways to serve others can you be passionate about what you are doing.

Focus comes from inspiration. Inspiration comes from creative self-expression. Any endeavor or activity that does not have a place for self-expression will quickly lead to burnout, which is the opposite of passion.

Above all, remember this: focus shows itself through action. If you are not taking action in the direction of what you want, it is fundamentally a problem of focus, nothing else. Whatever your situation, whatever your resources, action is necessary to produce results. Nothing else will suffice.

http://www.renegadestealthmarketing.com

Marketing Principles For Renegades

2008-09-10T15:13:24Z

Let's face it, there are a few advertising tricks that almost everybody in the real estate business knows about: business cards, fliers, classifieds, canvassing, cold calling, bandit signs, and internet marketing, to name just a few. A renegade is someone who operates outside of ordinary standards in order to produce greater than ordinary results. Being a renegade means both using such conventional marketing tools in unconventional ways as well as taking advantage of unconventional marketing tools whenever possible. In this article we will examine some of the unconventional marketing tools that most real estate investors don't even know about, let alone implement.

In many businesses it is possible to team up with businesses that offer related products to advertise to the same market. This is what's known as fusion marketing, or partnership marketing. In real estate the same principle applies. This means that you network and team up with as many title companies, attorneys, inspectors, appraisers, contractors, mortgage brokers, real estate agents, and other real estate professionals as you can to channel referral business. When you team up with a real estate professional who provides a related service to trade referrals, you both win.

Brand marketing is usually not practical for the new investor just starting in business, but once you have a recognizable brand name and an appreciable marketing budget, one way to get your company in people's awareness and on their minds is with free gifts like pens, calendars, mouse pads, or similar novelty items printed with your company's logo and contact information. This won't necessarily generate a flood of calls or website visits right away, but the residual effect of distributing many of these over an extended period of time can add up.

Since it's easier to sell to a previous satisfied client than to a new prospect, most of your marketing efforts should be directed towards your existing client base. Staying in touch with your clients through regular phone, email, and/or postal mail by sending thank you notes, updates, or just asking how they're doing can make it so you only have to devote a fraction of your energy to generating new clients. Renegades know that the fortune is in the followup.

Renegades also know that existing satisfied clients can also help you generate business in another way, by providing referrals and testimonials. Make a habit of collecting testimonials from satisfied clients as well as encouraging them to send you referral business by offering different types of rewards and incentives and you will never lose sleep over worrying about where your business is going to come from.

From a marketing perspective, the more people who know you the better. One way to get to know lots of people, and get them to know you, is to get involved in projects and events within your larger community, in addition to your local community of real estate professionals. The more people recognize you the more opportunities there will be for business to come your way. Community involvement can also be a great way to generate publicity, which can get you a large amount of exposure for practically no cost. For example, if you are in business as a rehabber and you donate a large amount of construction materials to a local chapter of Habitat for Humanity, don't you think this would be a newsworthy event that some local reporter would be eager to do a feature piece on?

Being a renegade means keeping an open mind and an active imagination to identify and exploit the methods that most people fail to see. This list should be merely a starting point for you to develop your own renegade marketing arsenal.

http://www.renegadestealthmarketing.com

How To Create Land Trusts: A Free Land Trust Mini-Course

2008-07-07T05:50:36Z

LAND TRUST MINI-COURSE LESSON 1: WHAT IS A LAND TRUST?

A trust is one of the most potent tools available to the real estate investor. But if you're like most people you only have a vague notion of what a trust is and how it is used. To wit:

A trust is a legal entity whose sole purpose is to hold assets. Trusts can hold any type of asset, including real estate. A land trust is a trust designed for the purpose of holding real estate.

So what makes a trust? There are different types of trusts, but all trusts have the following elements in common:

Beneficiary - The individual(s) who control the trust and its holdings. As the beneficiary of a land trust you have control of the property held in trust just as if you were the owner, and you are entitled to earn profits from the sale or rental of the property.

Trustee - The individual who actually owns the property in trust. The trustee is responsible for managing the assets held in trust, and distributing income according to the terms of the trust. The trustee owes a fiduciary duty to the beneficiaries and must carry out their instructions.

Trust Agreement - This outlines the terms of how the trust is to be managed and administered. It spells out the responsibilities of the beneficiaries and the trustee.

A land trust, then, is essentially a legal entity capable of holding real estate that is formed by a written agreement between two parties, the beneficiary and the trustee. The beneficiary controls the trust and the underlying property but does not have ownership. The trustee legally owns the property but must act according to the wishes of the beneficiary.

Perhaps you are asking yourself "Why on Earth would somebody use such an arrangement?" As it turns out there several advantages to controlling real estate without owning it.

To Learn how to create a land trust visit http://www.createalandtrust.com

LAND TRUST MINI-COURSE LESSON 2: BENEFITS OF USING A LAND TRUST

As we have seen, a land trust is the ultimate form of control of property without ownership. As beneficiary you control the trust and its assets, but the trust itself is the legal owner of the property. So, let's look at some of the advantages of using such an arrangement.

Privacy of Ownership

The owner of record of a property held in trust is the trust itself. The trust agreement, which lists you as the beneficiary, is not made a matter of public record. Therefore holding a property in trust allows you to control the property without creating any public record listing you as the owner or associating you with the property in any way. This is a great thing if you don't like lawsuits. Publicly owning real estate makes you a fabulous target for them. Think about it, if you were an attorney being hired to sue someone, would you rather take on a legitimate case where the defendant is actually guilty of wrongdoing but has no assets, or a case where the defendant didn't really do anything wrong but does have lots of assets? Believe it or not, just having publicly recorded assets makes you a more appealing target to predators and creditors of all sorts regardless of what you actually do. Holding a property in trust will also keep the price you buy it and sell it for off of public record, which can come in handy in certain situations.

Ease of Transfer

Transferring a property held in trust is much easier than transferring a property that you own. Beneficial interest in a trust is considered to be personal property, not real property. Therefore you can assign your beneficial interest in a trust to another party without a formal closing. The event is treated by the law as a transfer of personal property, not real estate.

Ease of control by Multiple Owners

If a property has multiple owners, those owners can place the property in a trust and assign themselves as beneficiaries. Then, only the trustee's signature will be required to execute documents relating to the property, rather than that of each of the beneficiaries.

Given these benefits of using land trusts, hopefully you are excited to find out exactly how you can use them in your real estate business.

To Learn how to create a land trust visit http://www.createalandtrust.com

LAND TRUST MINI-COURSE LESSON 3: WHAT ARE TRUSTS USED FOR?

We've seen that a land trust can allow for greater privacy in your real estate transactions and property ownership as well as a greater degree of control over the transfer of property than holding title in your own name. Let's look at some of the ways these factors can work to your advantage in your real estate deals.

Lease Options

In some states a lease option contract may give the tenant buyer "vested rights" to the property. This means that in the event the tenant defaults you could have to initiate costly foreclosure proceedings rather than file an ordinary eviction. However, you can get around this possibility by placing the property in a trust. Simply have the tenant buyer sign two separate agreements: 1) a lease agreement and 2) an option agreement to buy the beneficial interest of the trust. This agreement can be made null and void in the event that the tenant buyer defaults on the lease agreement.

Wholesaling

Certain institutional sellers, such as lenders, will not approve a sale of a property by assignment. However, they will approve a sale to a land trust, and if you want to you can assign the beneficial interest in that trust to another party, right? You don't even have to tell them about it if you don't want to. Problem solved.

Owner Financing

If you want to buy a house with owner financing, the seller might not be willing to transfer title to you right away. No problem, simply create a land trust to deed the property into and name yourself (and perhaps the seller as well) as a beneficiary. This allows you to profit from the property without transferring the title to your own name.

Subject To

The due-on-sale clause can be an issue whenever you take title to a property subject to the existing financing. However, transferring title of a property to a land trust will almost never trigger the due on sale clause (because there is a specific exception in federal law that provides for this), nor will assigning the beneficial interest in the trust (because the lender generally has no way of finding out that this has taken place).

Now that you know some of the things that you can do with land trusts to optimize your real estate business, get ready to learn about how to create one

To Learn how to create a land trust visit http://www.createalandtrust.com

LAND TRUST MINI-COURSE LESSON 4: CREATING A LAND TRUST

So how are Land Trusts legally created? A Land Trust is legally created when real estate is conveyed to a trustee by means of a warranty deed or similar document. However, before you convey real estate to a trustee you must have a trust agreement in place that dictates the duties of the trustee. The trustee will have legal title to the property, but as beneficiary you retain nearly all of the benefits of ownership, including the beneficial interest in the land trust, which entitles you to profit from the property, and the power of direction, which binds the trustee to carry out your instructions regarding the property.

The beneficiary of a land trust can be a single individual or multiple individuals, as well as a legal entity such as a corporation or LLC. The beneficiaries are in control, and as such they are responsible for any financial obligations or judgments relating to the property. The trustee is a single individual or organization who is not an independent agent and can not be held liable for following the instructions of the beneficiaries. However, the trustee does hold a fiduciary responsibility to the beneficiaries and is required to act in their best interest. Among the responsibilities of the trustee are to keep accurate records relating to the trust, exercise reasonable care and skill in the management of the trust, and act only upon the specific written request of the beneficiaries.

Since the trustee is the legal owner of property that you wish to control, trustworthiness is obviously an important consideration in the selection of a trustee. Reliability and availability should be factored in as well, as the trustee will be required to sign any and all paperwork as the owner of the property. You can select as trustee an individual you know well and trust, such as a friend, relative, or attorney; or an institution such as a bank, a trust company, or other corporation.

So, to sum up, a trust is created by two documents: a trust document, which outlines the roles and responsibilities of the beneficiaries and trustee, and a deed, which conveys title to the newly created trust. The trust document should never be recorded so as to maintain privacy, but the deed should be recorded in order to legitimize the transfer. There will be a nominal recording fee, but in most states there will be no transfer tax because the event is not considered a change in ownership.

Just so that you don't think that land trusts are too good to be true, there are some specific drawbacks that you should be aware of in order to use them most effectively.

To Learn how to create a land trust visit http://www.createalandtrust.com

LAND TRUST MINI-COURSE LESSON 5: DRAWBACKS OF LAND TRUSTS

Hopefully you can see by now how useful land trusts are and how they can be a powerful tool for your real estate investing business. However, land trusts do have some limitations which it would be wise to take a careful look at.

No Liability Shield

While a land trust will shield your control of a property from public view, it provides no liability protection whatsoever to the beneficiary. If someone slips and falls on your property, having it in a land trust won't prevent you from being sued. Nor will it prevent legitimate collection actions from taking place against the property. For this type of protection you need a business entity, such as a corporation or LLC, to go in between you and the property.

Choosing a Reliable Trustee

If your trustee is not available when you need to have documents signed that relate to the property, you could be down the creek without a paddle. That's why reliability and accessibility are important factors to weigh in when choosing a trustee. You could pay a professional provider for this service, but it will most likely cost an arm and a leg.

Loss of the Homestead Exemption

Your personal residence is a home you both own and occupy. A homestead exemption is a clause that protects a person's personal residence from the collection actions of creditors. Even if you declare bankruptcy, in most states you will be entitled to keep the equity that is in your home (at least up to a certain amount). But guess what, if the house you live in is owned by a land trust instead of by you, it's not your personal residence, is it? This is a trade-off that should be weighed carefully with the help of your attorney.

Unfamiliarity with Land Trusts

Many people that you deal with, including some lenders and attorneys, will have no clue what a land trust is, which can create minor complications. For example, if you want to refinance a property that you hold in trust, the lender may require that you transfer title to your person before they will lend, which would destroy your anonymity. Or if you transfer title of a mortgaged property to a trust, the lender may call the loan due even though federal law prohibits this.

To Learn how to create a land trust visit http://www.createalandtrust.com

Real Estate Scripts For Your Real Estate Investing Business

2008-07-04T20:06:24Z

If your quick turn real estate business is a car, then marketing is the fuel that it runs on. No matter how many different ways you know to buy houses, no matter how many different types of contracts you are familiar with, no matter how many real estate courses you have memorized, if you don't have any customers or clients then your business isn't going to go anywhere any time soon.

But putting fuel into a broken down car isn't going to get you anywhere fast either - the fuel will simply go to waste. So if marketing represents the fuel for your quick turn real estate business, what represents the engine? What is the mechanism that takes the energy contained in the fuel and converts it to make the wheels turn and create forward acceleration? One word: negotiation.

The Engine of Your Business

It is a fundamental rule that any business, to survive, must provide some sort of value, whether to its customers, employees, owners, stockholders, or the world at large. A business that does not create value for at least some people has no reason to exist. Your quick turn real estate business is no different. Of course you should design your business to best serve your needs (That's the whole reason you chose to be an entrepreneur instead of an employee, right?), but if your business doesn't result in the creation of value for those you do business with then it will not be long for this world.

The reason is simple. If you do not provide value to those you do business with in at least equal measure to what they have given in exchange, then they will feel ripped off, and if your customers or clients feel ripped off after doing business with you then it is only a matter of time before you won't have any more customers or clients - the suckers will eventually quit lining up for your fleece job. Providing honest, legitimate value is not only the main characteristic distinguishing a true business venture from a scam, but it is also the only way to tap into the goldmine of repeat business - customers or clients who do business with you over and over again for a long time.

Negotiation, as a skilled specialty that you practice in your real estate business, is the means by which you provide value to your customers and clients. It is the engine that burns the fuel to make your business move. Think about it. Farmers provide value because most people are not able to produce their own food. Car manufacturers provide value because most people are not able to make their own cars. Lawyers provide value because most people are not able to defend themselves in court. And your quick turn real estate business will provide value because most people are not very good at negotiating. You will genuinely help them by providing creative, satisfactory solutions to their problems that they probably never would have thought of on their own, and this is how you will earn your profits.

Being aware of the role negotiating plays in your real estate business is important. Dollar for dollar, the best monetary investment you can make in your business is in your marketing budget. But minute for minute, the best use of time in your real estate business is in negotiating. In the arena of negotiating real estate transactions involving single family properties, it is not unreasonable or unusual to create profit margins of 4 or 5 figures in less than 10 minutes of conversation time.

However, it is important to keep in mind that you are not creating money out of thin air, but that you are creating it by providing a valuable service, one which you must have a certain amount of expertise in order to be able to provide. Think about this. Would you take your business to somebody who was not an expert at what they do if you had a choice in the matter? Would you go to a mechanic who didn't have any training to work on cars? Or to a doctor who had never studied healing?

For most people, buying or selling a house is an important matter, so expertise is an important factor in their decision to do business with you. Therefore it is important to be perceived by those around you as being good at what you do, ideally even being of expert status. However, above and beyond being perceived as being skillful, long-term success depends crucially on actually being skillful at what you do. You must not only project mastery, you must also embody it. If your skill at negotiation is the engine of your business, then the more powerful that engine is the better the results you will see from your business, and with less effort.

Scripting for Success

Undoubtedly, then, your skill and expertise at negotiating will translate into bottom line profits, assuming you have plenty of sellers to talk to and multiple deals to work on. However, does this mean that you must already be an expert negotiator to start your own quick turn real estate business? Fortunately, no it doesn't, because there is a widely practiced and highly effective technique for overcoming this skill barrier, which is common in all forms of sales. The use of a pre-written, memorized script for talking to sellers is known to improve the effectiveness of a single encounter, and the use of a comprehensive collection of pre-written scripts tailored to any type of seller in any type of situation is invaluable. It allows you to not only project the image of skill and expertise while you are still new and fresh to the game, but it also assists you in developing true negotiating expertise by providing you with a broad assortment of tools to draw on for whatever job is at hand.

The drawbacks of talking to sellers without knowing what to say, especially when you are still at the beginning of your learning curve, are many fold. It is all around bad for your business and bad for your morale. If you don't know the most important things to say when you are on the phone with sellers to get the results that you want, you will waste a lot of time and good deals. Have you ever tried to talk to sellers and had any of these types of problems:

- The seller makes an objection that you don't have a satisfactory response to.

- The seller asks you a question that you can't answer.

- You don't know what questions you should be asking in order to get the information you need.

- You don't know what type of offer to make after the seller has explained their situation so you have to get off the phone without making an offer, promising to call back later.

- You are having a hard time persuading sellers to accept your offers.

These types of problems alone will make things difficult for you in your real estate business, but they will also harm your morale, making it so that talking to sellers comes to be an activity that you fear and dread, which is a dead-end street for sure. Without a doubt, if you are not able to develop the ability to talk to sellers comfortably and naturally, with a minimum of anxiety and stress and with maximum skill and effectiveness, success with real estate is not likely to be in your future.

Would you go to a job interview unprepared? Would you give a public speech off the top of your head? Would you run a marathon without practicing? Just as silly as all of these things would be to talk to sellers without knowing what to say. Having a pre-written script memorized before talking to sellers will not only allow you to sound like you know what you're talking about, even if you don't (at first), it will explode the effectiveness of your negotiations by eliminating the problems listed above, as well as by giving you the confidence that comes with knowing what you are going to say rather than having to invent it as you go along.

This is not to say that you wouldn't eventually become skillful at talking to sellers through trial and error alone, assuming you had enough chances to practice, plenty of patience, and all the time in the world to make it work. But having the benefit of a comprehensive collection of pre-written scripts dealing with any seller in any type of situation can drastically shorten your learning curve and therefore increase your effectiveness in a much shorter period of time than if you had to reinvent the wheel. Remember that even the president speaks from scripts - but don't let this stop you from doing it!

The truth is that we all have our own scripts that we use unconsciously in any situation. If you make 30 phone calls to 30 sellers you will inevitably find yourself repeating the same thing over and over again. The question is, are the scripts that you already have for talking to sellers the most effective ones you could be using? Most likely they are not unless they have been polished through education and experience. And the most benefit comes from actually memorizing a script, knowing it like you know the words to your favorite song or the pledge of allegiance.

Studies have shown that memorizing a script, perhaps changing the wording here and there so that you feel more comfortable with it, but keeping the main points intact, is more effective than simply having an outline or a broad idea of what you want to be saying. So, even if you have experience talking to sellers you will still benefit from having the exact words and phrases you need on the tip of your tongue and ready to be used at a moment's notice whenever they are called for.

A common problem beginning real estate entrepreneurs often have is discovering a seller's true bottom line price. This is not only frustrating, it also an inefficient use of your valuable time if you have to spend 30 minutes on the phone chatting to find out that a seller isn't motivated and there is no chance of doing a deal. Considering that you may have to screen up to 100 sellers to find a good deal, this one issue can result in a whole lot of time wasted. But, if you have memorized the following script you can shorten the process to 1 minute or less:

Sample Script for Talking to Sellers

You: "If I paid you all cash and closed quickly, what's the least amount you would be willing to accept?

Seller: "Well, the least amount I would be willing to accept is $180,000.

You: "So you're saying that if I don't agree to your price of $180,000 we can't do business today?"

Seller: "No I'm not saying that we can't do business"

You: "That's good to hear, so if I paid you all cash today what's the least amount you would be willing to accept?"

Seller: "$160,000"

You: "So you're saying if I don't agree to your price of $160,000 we can't do business today?"

Seller: "Listen the absolute lowest I am going to go is $152,000 that is my last offer to you."

You: "Ok I accept your offer because it is mutually beneficial for the both us."

Seller: "I agree"

You: "Well that's it and since we both agree here's a simple no hassle agreement for your review that spells out the terms we've just discussed"

Besides talking on the phone, another way of talking to sellers is through the mail. In order to be effective a direct mail campaign should not only be targeted to a selected audience, it should also carry a message that is custom tailored to get the attention of a member of that audience and motivate them to take action. In order to do this it needs to speak directly to that audience. What's more, the greatest response rates come from repetition, or multiple waves of mailings to the same audience, consisting of both postcards and letters.

Of course, you could create all of these materials yourself from scratch using trial and error if you had plenty of time to experiment and an unlimited marketing budget. Or you could save yourself the time and tribulations of the long-term experimentation involved and invest in the future of your business by taking advantage of a set of all-inclusive pre-written marketing materials tailored to a multitude of different demographics and types of sellers.

I offer a complete ready to use sequential letter system in my home study course "The Real Estate Investors Guide To Finding Motivated Sellers" To Try it for FREE visit http://www.findingthemotivatedsellers.com

Examples of types of sellers you could target with direct mailing campaigns include:

- Owners of abandoned or condemned properties.

- Owners of properties with delinquent taxes.

- Owners of properties in pre-foreclosure.

- Owners of properties in probate.

- Absentee owners or landlords.

- Owners of free-and-clear properties.

- Owners of properties with expired listings.

- Owners of properties with code violations.

- Owners who live out of state

Each of these separate target markets is going to respond to different types of marketing messages that say different things. It is your decision whether to create all of these marketing materials from scratch or to use a ready made set of marketing materials that have been shown to be effective in all types of situations.

The value of knowing the right thing to say to the right type of seller at the right time can not be underestimated for your quick turn real estate business. It is the quality of what you say to sellers as well as how you say it that determines whether your business will go from 0 to 60 in record time or whether it will stall by the side of the highway, leaving you stuck without a ride. A comprehensive system of scripts that tells you exactly what to say and how to say it when talking to sellers can cut years off your learning curve and add volumes to your bottom line.

So if your problem is you just don't know what to say to sellers and you are in need of bonafide scripts I have the ultimate solution for you. I have a complete system of scripts that are available in my home study course "What To Say & How To Talk To Sellers In Your Real Estate Transactions" that covers all the possible situations and objections that you will encounter with sellers and how to appropriately respond to them.

Some of the things that I cover in this amazing home study course are the following:

· What To Say To A Seller Whose Listing Has Expired

· What To Say To An Executor Of An Estate In Probate

· What To Say To A Realtor Who Has Inventory

· What To Say To A Seller In Pre-foreclosure

· What To Say To A Seller Who Is A Frustrated Landlord

· What To Say To A Seller On Your 800 number

· What To Say To A Seller Who is A FSBO (For Sale By Owner)

· What To Say To Sellers When You Are Getting The Deed

· What To Say To Sellers When You Are Doing Short Sales

· What To Say To Ugly House Sellers

· What to Say To Option Sellers

"What To Say & How To Talk To Sellers " features 50+ plus scripts

To Try It For Free

Visit

http://www.whattosaytoaseller.com

How To Use Private Lenders To Fund Your Real Deals -Free Lesson

2008-06-30T09:02:33Z

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Learn the secrets of using private lenders to fund your real estate deals

For more info visit: http://www.privatelendingfunding.com

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PRIVATE LENDING MINI-COURSE LESSON 1: SOURCES OF FINANCING

There are many sources of financing available for us to use as real estate investors. Being informed of the options available is important for structuring your real estate business.

Conventional Financing - This is the type of financing provided by banks and conventional lenders. It is long term and requires a lot of paperwork and qualifying. In addition, conventional lenders will only let one individual acquire a certain number of properties before they won't finance any more.

Hard Money - This is also referred to as rehab financing. It is short term and high interest and is intended to be used only for acquiring and rehabbing a property. It usually requires less qualifying on the part of the investor because it is loaned at a very low LTV.

Creative Financing - This is a blanket term for techniques such as lease options, subject to, and owner financing that will allow you to acquire control of a property without putting money down. These techniques are great when you can use them but are not applicable when the seller needs to sell for cash.

Revolving Credit Sources - These are sources such as business lines of credit and credit cards. While these can be flexible sources of financing, the interest rates tend to be high, and they require monthly payments to be made to service the debt. They also limit you to the size of your available credit line.

Business Partners - You can partner up with a wealthy individual or funding partner to get the cash for your deals, if you are willing to share control of your business.

Cash - If you have sufficient personal cash you can use it in your real estate deals, but why not put it into more passive investments and leverage the power of other people's money in your real estate business?

Private Lenders - These are private individuals with money to lend for investment purposes. They may or may not be wealthy but they do have excess capital available, over and above what they need to live on, that is earning a lower return than that which you are willing to offer. The advantage to working with private lenders is that you can set the terms by which you borrow.

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Learn the secrets of using private lenders to fund your real estate deals

For more info visit: http://www.privatelendingfunding.com

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PRIVATE LENDING MINI-COURSE LESSON 2: USING PRIVATE FUNDS IN YOUR REAL ESTATE BUSINESS

Whatever the focus of your real estate investing business, you can undoubtedly find ways to make use of private lenders as a source of cash. He are some of the ways these funds can be used:

Wholesaling - In wholesaling the emphasis is on buying as cheaply as possible. Obviously having a proof of funds available to close can help to expedite getting your offers accepted. Of course, to wholesale you don't need to use your own money to buy the property, unless you are doing a double closing, in which case it can be very helpful to have a source of funds available on a short-term basis from a private source.

Subject To - When taking over the payments on a property in pre-foreclosure, it is not uncommon to have to make up several months of back payments to bring the mortgage current. The house may need some cosmetic touch up too. This money can come out of your own pocket, or it can come from a private lender.

Rehabbing - Rehabbing involves buying houses that need work with the intention of improving them. Private lenders are ideal for this type of investing because you can borrow the money for the purchase and the fix up and pay it back when you refinance or sell the house.

For Short Sales - A short sale involves buying a property for a discount on the mortgage before it goes to foreclosure. Lenders will only be willing to work with you in this regard if you are able to provide a proof of funds available to close. This is a situation where the quick availability of funds can make a big difference.

However you use private funds in your real estate business, it is important that you apply them prudently and responsibly. Your investors will want to see evidence of your business acumen. If you have had some success with your real estate business you can leverage this into greater credibility with your investors, thus allowing you to climb on to greater successes. If you and your real estate investing business aren't yet ready to handle the responsibility of investing with other people's money then you can still prepare to take this approach once you have gained sufficient experience and credibility.

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Learn the secrets of using private lenders to fund your real estate deals

For more info visit: http://www.privatelendingfunding.com

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PRIVATE LENDING MINI-COURSE LESSON 3: ACQUIRING PRIVATE LENDERS

In order to bring private lending prospects in to your business it is first necessary to recognize who they are. First look for individuals who have investment capital in some form, whether it be held in CD's, savings, IRAs, mutual funds, or some other form. Second target those individuals whose savings are earning them less of a return than you are willing and able to offer them by investing with your real estate business.

How do you find these individuals? The same way you find motivated sellers or buyers or anybody else your business needs to contact: marketing. The same marketing avenues that are generally open to the real estate investor can work to target private lenders:

Direct mail: send mailed advertisements to targeted lists of prospects
Classifieds: Classified ads in all sorts of publications can reach your target market
Internet: The internet provides countless marketing opportunities to get your marketing message in front of the right sort of prospects
Outdoor advertising: This includes bandit signs and other forms of advertising outside
Networking: Meet as many people as you can and talk to all of them about your opportunity. Be diligent about handing out your business card and asking for referrals.

You shouldn't market to make a hard sell on the first contact. Gaining private lenders is a process of establishing credibility and trust over a period of time. Your initial marketing materials should get them to contact you for more information, or attend a private seminar where you will explain the details of your program. Remember that some prospects will be interested in your offer and some won't. Ignore the latter and focus your efforts on the former.

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Learn the secrets of using private lenders to fund your real estate deals

For more info visit: http://www.privatelendingfunding.com

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PRIVATE LENDING MINI-COURSE LESSON 4: WORKING WITH PRIVATE LENDERS

The beautiful thing about using private lenders for your real estate investing business is that you get to set the terms by which you borrow. But what terms will you set? It is necessary to design a lending program that will not only offer competitive terms to your private lenders but that will also meet your business's needs. What interest rate will you offer? Will you offer monthly payments of interest or a lump sum repayment? How long will the term of the financing be? What will be your maximum LTV ratio when purchasing properties? How will you collect and collateralize your investors' money? What documentation will you use? What sort of system will you use to keep track of all of your outstanding loans and their due dates? A substantial amount of thought must be given to these and similar questions in order for your private lending program to be effective.

One of the primary sources of private lending capital is funds from investors' self-directed IRAs. Lenders with money in an IRA may not withdraw the money but may direct it towards chosen investments. For you as the real estate investor this means that there is some extra paperwork involved. In order to invest with self-directed IRA funds you must work with a custodian called a Third Party Administrator to handle the money indirectly.

The loyalty of your lenders is your greatest asset as a real estate investor. Loyal investors lead to long-term profitable business relationships. Loyalty stems from satisfaction as well as special treatment. Making sure that your promises to your lenders are fulfilled is the first step. Whenever possible go above and beyond their expectations. This will ensure long-term loyalty from your lenders. And don't forget to make them feel special. Extra touches like follow up calls and thank you notes go a long way towards making someone feel like a person, which will help your lenders feel even better about doing business with you.

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Learn the secrets of using private lenders to fund your real estate deals

For more info visit: http://www.privatelendingfunding.com

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PRIVATE LENDING MINI-COURSE LESSON 5: GROWING YOUR BUSINESS WITH PRIVATE LENDERS

No matter where you are in the country, chances are that there are plenty of real estate deals in your back yard, as well as plenty of potential private lenders to fund these deals for your business. However, if you think that your vision for your business has to be confined to your local market then your thinking is a little old fashioned. Virtual real estate is a concept that embodies the practice of doing business in non-local markets using the power of the internet and telecommunications. Just like these days it is possible to buy and sell real estate in any market virtually no matter where you are located, you can also expand the scope of your search for private lenders to any locality you desire regardless of your physical location.

As a purveyor of investment opportunities one organization that you should be aware of the existence of is the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC. The SEC is a federal commission that monitors the sale of securities, or investments. There are important distinctions that you should be aware of between selling shares in a business venture and borrowing money as a mortgage secured by real estate, but the details of making sure your are in compliance with the SEC should be left to your accountant. Just be aware that if you are doing business within a single state then your activities will be of interest to that state's version of the SEC, and if you are doing business between states then your activities will be of interest to the federal SEC. Your business team should include a good accountant and/or attorney who can see to it that all of the appropriate filing and registration requirements are satisfied.

If you can skillfully acquire money from private lenders to fund your own real estate transactions, then why couldn't you do the same for other real estate investors? As a matter of fact you can choose to go into business as a hard money broker and do exactly this, opening up another avenue of profitability to benefit from your private lending skills. Once again take note that this is a business you should have the help of a qualified attorney and/or accountant, preferably both, to enter.

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Learn the secrets of using private lenders to fund your real estate deals

For more info visit: http://www.privatelendingfunding.com

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Telephone Marketing for the Quick Turn Real Estate Entrepreneur

2008-06-18T10:12:40Z

In the world of real estate marketing the closer the contact you make with your prospects the greater the likelihood that you will be able to influence them to do business with you. Marketing by email or direct mail can cause you to seem distant to many potential customers, but meeting people face to face can take a lot of energy as well as be very time consuming.

Marketing by telephone can provide an acceptable balance between these two modes of communication. It allows the prospect to get to know you and get a sense of who you are by hearing your voice, while allowing you to work from a centralized location and maximize the use of your time and other resources, including money and energy.

So how does telephone marketing work? It starts with a list of phone numbers of your prospects, who may be either potential buyers or sellers. These may be landlords, phone numbers from the classified section of the newspaper, for-sale-by-owner listings, captured incoming calls to your business that you are returning, or any one of a multitude of other possible target demographics (see how many you can come up with if you use your imagination).

In addition to a list of prospects to call on you also need a list of pre-specified data that you intend to collect from each prospect and a pre-written script to keep the conversation smooth, timely, and outcome focused.

No matter who you are calling on, it is almost always a good idea when marketing by telephone to introduce yourself first. If the prospect is someone known to you then this is a polite way to start any conversation, and if the prospect is someone who is not known to you then you need to remedy that situation as quickly as possible.

Remember that if given a choice between doing business with someone they know and someone they don't know, most people will choose to do business with someone they know. And if given the choice between doing business with somebody who is a friend and somebody who isn't, most people will choose a friend.

You would do well to keep this in mind and not only make your identity known to the prospect first thing, but strive to form a true personal connection each time you are on the phone with someone new. You want to be not only remembered but thought well of.

The more information you gather in your initial contact over the phone the better, at least if the person you're speaking with is a genuine qualified prospect. However, it is important to keep your manner conversational and friendly and not give the impression that you are attempting to dominate the conversation. On the other hand, you should be prepared to get off the phone as soon as possible if you discover you are not talking with a valid prospect; this conserves your valuable time.

Marketing by telephone takes more guts and endurance than many people realize. It can even be one of the main barriers to new entrepreneurs just trying to get started in business. If you can generate the energy, though, it is a technique that can pay off handsomely.

And if you would rather spend the money and conserve your energy it is an easy function to hire out. Simply supply your help with a calling list, a script to use on the phone, and a way to conveniently and accurately record the results of each phone call.

To learn how to market to motivated sellers and know exactly what to say to them to close deals visit

http://www.marketingtosellers.com

Direct Mail Marketing for the Quick Turn Real Estate Entrepreneur

2008-06-18T10:02:36Z

Of all the different media available for broadcasting your marketing message to your target audience, one of the most effective places to get in front of prospects under certain circumstances is in their own homes. Marketing by direct mail allows you to do this as well as to establish a relationship with the prospect before they even meet you.

The basic principles of direct mail are simple. Craft a marketing message that can be written in a letter or on a postcard, obtain a list of the mailing addresses of members of your target audience, and mail your marketing materials to the list. Direct mail marketing is both easy to implement and scalable, meaning that you can send just a few mailings or a very many, and your responses will be proportional.

Do be aware, however, that a certain critical number of mailings will be required to get results; the normal range for responses rates to direct mail marketing is in the .5% - 5% range.

So where does a good mailing list come from? Generally it comes from a data service company that specializes in supplying this type of information. You can request just about any type of list you can imagine, but here are a few that you might consider:

- Owners of abandoned or condemned properties.

- Owners of properties with delinquent taxes.

- Owners of properties in pre-foreclosure.

- Owners of properties in probate.

- Absentee owners or landlords.

- Owners of free-and-clear properties.

- Owners of properties with expired listings.

- Owners of properties with code violations.

- Owners who live out of state

The list that you choose will be targeted according to the types of properties you want to acquire, and your marketing message will be targeted to the types of prospects you are mailing to. It should be something that speaks to and motivates the type of seller you are trying to persuade to call you, something they will identify with.

Your marketing message will include your phone number and instruct the seller to pick up the phone and call it. Make sure it is answered by a live person or you are likely to lose the interest of your prospect immediately.

The types of mailing materials you can use include postcards, letters, or anything else more creative you can think of to send through the mail. It is important to keep in mind that people often will not respond to your offer the first time they see it but will eventually respond if it keeps appearing in front of them. Therefore repeated exposure is key to increasing response rates.

Rather than sending the same letter or postcard over and over again, you might want to create a series of sequential mailings so that the prospects on your list will receive certain mailings in a certain order. This allows your direct mail pieces to tell a story and build confidence in the mind of the prospect.

If you are serious about growing your business then direct mail is something you want to be serious about implementing as one of the most effective ways to both get your marketing directly in front of your prospects and to scale your business to any size conceivable.

To learn how to market to motivated sellers and know what to say to them to close deals visit

http://www.marketingtosellers.com